EBSCO Welcomes HASS Students with Paper Airplanes and Practical Lessons

HASS students welcomed by David Walker and Elise Stearns who greeted them with refreshments and an EBSCO goodie bag. We took a few minutes to get settled before David began introductions. From the beginning we could tell this was not a typical corporate visit. Instead of the usual introduction, everyone in the room had to tell an interesting fact about themselves. The students really enjoyed learning about their presenters and throughout the day they made sure to remind everyone to share.

After the welcome and the history of EBSCO presentation, the students met Karla Wiles and her team from Corporate Communications. During this session they learned what marketing is and its role at EBSCO and about all the different jobs involved with marketing. During the marketing exercises, students engaged in a simulation where they looked at advertisements that would be displayed in different ways. They used a brainstorming technique used by the EBSCO communications team to come up with ideas for advertisements. This experience led several students to think about a career in marketing.

Next the students heard from Brian Holley from PRADCO Outdoor Brands. Brian demonstrated some of the equipment sold and quizzed some of our hunters and fishers about the products. Jada won a turkey caller and Mr. Harper won a few fishing lures but everyone was given PRADCO hat. Brian shared advice with the students that he has followed throughout his life which included: stay out of trouble, get the best formal education you can but remember it is all about figuring out how things work, become a lifelong learner, and “save and invest is the key to financial success,” and finally “do what you love.” The students highlighted this session as one of their favorites!

Like the Marketing session, the Information Technology session opened the students’ minds about different opportunities in IT. Paxton Lamons and Chris Matheson shared how IT weaves through every department.

Scott McKibbin and Rodney Mines from the Lean Operations Team took the students through an exercise used with real EBSCO employees that illustrates what the Lean model is and how it is used at EBSCO. The students were split into teams and tasked with filling a client’s order for 13 working paper airplanes. The first time students went through a ‘shift’, neither team completed the order and they both created a great deal of “waste” in the amount of incomplete airplanes produced. Then they brainstormed ways to increase productivity and decrease the amount of waste produced and money lost. The students decided they needed to eliminate the amount of incomplete airplanes produced by creating WIP sites that could only hold one airplane in production at a time and they could eliminate the manager position and the materials handler position which would save money. They completed another “shift” under the lean model and wasted significantly less. However, they were not successful in completing the order because somehow both teams changed the way they were folding the wings of the plane causing it to fly crooked. Learning in failure -a favorite lesson!

Brian Wilson, Carlton Kemper, and Katie Gilbert from the Human Resources went through the do’s and don’t’s of resume writing and interviewing. Mr. Wilson shared key points that will help a candidate’s resume stand out as well as some major mistakes that actual candidates have made on resumes submitted to EBSCO. Mr. Kemper and Mrs. Gilbert put on a sketch for our students to demonstrate the differences between a good interview and a terrible one. The students were able to identify many of the good things done in the good interview and ALL of the unacceptable things done in the terrible interview.

The last session inspired the kids to think about investing. Hardie Carlson, from EBSCO Capital, shared stories about himself and his family related to investing. He encouraged the students to think about how to make money work for them by investing early.

At the end of a long work day, the HASS students were inspired, and tired! Thank you EBSCO for giving our students so much time and attention and much to think about as they continue their education and think about future careers.